Sitting out the storm

‘The quota year got off to a good start. The main difference compared to past years is that since August we have had to work harder to catch cod. Before that it was more of a hindrance to us,’ said Eiríkur Jónsson, skipper of HB Grandi’s groundfish trawler Sturlaugi H. Böðvarsson when we spoke to him yesterday.

Sturlaugur H. Böðvarsson is fishing on Westfjords grounds, but because of the storm force conditions around Iceland last night, they have been keeping close in to shelter in the lee of the land.

‘We’re on the Stramnes Bank and fishing isn’t anything special. The catch rate is around a tonne per hour and there’s only cod here. Höfrungur III is on haddock further to the east and Ottó N. Thorláksson arrived here this morning and they are out on the Hali grounds. The forecast is better for the evening and I expect we’ll move out to the Hali area during the day,’ he said, adding that there has been poor weather on the Straumnes Bank overnight with wind speeds of 15-17 m/sec, and that the weather must have been worse further offshore on the Hali grounds.

He said that there has been good fishing for golden redfish, but without a directed fishery taking place.

‘There’s golden redfish to be had in the south but we haven’t spent much time on areas such as the Mountains and the Skerja Deeps for a long time. Here off the Westfjords there’s golden redfish in the Víkurál Gully and there are cod and saithe on the Hali grounds,’ Eiríkur Jónsson said.